


Camelopardalis

by Indig0



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Giraffe Markus, Leo tried, there will be giraffe rides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 14:16:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19889200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: Markus's consciousness is transferred to the giraffe in Carl's house thanks to Leo's impulsive decision.  His friends and family are far more excited about it than he is.(thanks to Epsy for the prompts!  I just stuffed them all in one.)





	Camelopardalis

Markus booted up slowly. He felt stiff, and his neural connections weren’t quite up to speed. Distantly, he could hear Carl and Leo.

“I told you to wait, I had Elijah on the phone!”

“Yeah, while you two argued, he was gonna run out of time!”

“We don’t know that this will help - it could very well destroy him, Leo!”

“You always told me this was a prototype android that just never had a processor! It’s not perfect, but an android’s an android, right?”

“No, it most certainly is not!

Markus blinked. He was… on the second floor walkway of Carl’s house. Wasn’t he? He turned his head slowly. There was vision on both sides, but not directly in front of him. He tried to raise a hand to his face.

“Whoa, take it easy!”

“Markus, just stand still, don’t move!”

He scrambled to keep his balance, and crashed to the floor. Leo got to him first.

“Okay, just - okay just take it easy. You’ve got more legs now. Probably easier to balance on four than two, right? Just takes some getting used to. You’re okay though, right?”

He looked up at Leo and snorted. He worked his jaw, and a long tongue lolled out. …Speech didn’t seem to be among his capabilities at the moment.

“Yeah, I know, it’s fucked up. Had to put you in something.”

Slowly, Markus tried to get his feet under him and stand up again. He rocked back and forth, and finally scrambled up to stand with his legs splayed out. He swung his head to look at Carl, and banged it on a railing.

“Easy, Markus. I’ve called Elijah, he’ll be here soon. …Though what he’ll do about this, I can’t imagine.” The old man frowned at Leo.

“…Prob’ly a lot more than he could do with a dead processor,” Leo muttered. “You want me to let your friends know?”

Markus’s first instinct was that they needed to know. His second instinct was that he didn’t want them to know. He opened his mouth, and his tongue undulated.

“You got it. I’ve got Simon’s number for emergencies, I’d say this qualifies.” He began texting while Markus flicked his ears and tail in distress.

“Markus?” North asked, leading the other two in.

Carefully, he lowered his head towards them. Simon and Josh looked horrified.

North burst out laughing. “I thought Leo was fucking with us! …Seriously, that’s you!?”

“Better than him being dead,” Leo muttered defensively.

“I would think he runs the risk now of absorbing the giraffe behavior protocol long-term, though,” Josh said, frowning up at him.

“So he tries to stretch and eat leaves, big deal,” North said with a grin. “We can handle that.”

“I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Elijah Kamski swept into the room followed by Chloe, who nodded to the others politely. He looked up at Markus for a long moment, then turned to Leo. “What made you decide to place his processor into a giraffe?”

“I - I dunno, I panicked! I figured it shouldn’t be… like, inactive for too long! Thought he might go brain-dead.” Leo fidgeted, not quite looking at anyone.

“That’s doubtful. …Though it actually is possible. You’ve either saved him or caused him a slew of needless trouble.”

“Either way, nice one,” North commented.

Kamski glanced at her. “…Yes. Markus, how do you feel?”

Markus blinked and his tongue extended again.

“…He doesn’t like this,” Chloe supplied, with a hand on his leg. “He’s confused and disoriented. But he’s taken the transition quite well from what I can tell. He’s very resilient and adaptable.”

“Of course he is, we made him that way. …And we can make a new RK200 body, but it’s going to take some time.”

“I know this isn’t ideal, but it’s just temporary, Markus,” Simon said soothingly as Markus snorted and shook his head.

“We’ll get you outside… through a window or something… so you can roam free on the wild plains of Detroit.” North grinned.

Josh elbowed Simon. “Giraffe rides,” he whispered. Markus stomped a foot.

“Yessss, we could sell tickets!” Leo said, grinning at Josh. “Everybody’ll want one!”

“They won’t really do that,” Simon assured him.

“I totally would,” Leo shot back.

“We’ll be in touch,” Chloe assured them all with a smile. “And please keep me updated on the giraffe ride situation.”

The crowd of androids (and a few humans) looked up at the sound of sirens. Lieutenant Anderson got out of his car, took in the scene, and sighed. They parted as he walked to the center of the action.

“You wanna tell me whose, uh… giraffe this is?”

“It’s 2039, androids don’t belong to anyone!” North shouted from the other side of the giraffe. Hank glared at her though its legs.

“Okay, let’s try this again. What the hell’s goin’ on here!?”

“None of your business!” called someone from the edge of the crowd.

“Come on, guys,” Hank complained. His eyes scanned the crowd for someone helpful. “Josh?”

“I just got here!” Josh burst out, looking away.

“Uh-huh.” He looked at North, who was smirking, and shook his head. “…Simon?”

“I… I really don’t… I don’t know,” Simon mumbled, shuffling backwards.

“Doubtful.” Hank’s eyes narrowed, and he stalked through the crowd. “You.”

Leo paled and took a step back.

“Your dad’s house, you’re in the middle of this, you’re gonna tell me why the fuck you’re giving fucking… giraffe rides!”

“I… uh…” Leo looked up at the giraffe, then quickly scanned the crowd. “I’m not… I… you’d have to ask my dad.”

“Yeah. Conveniently, he ain’t here.”

Leo huffed in frustration. “It’s an android, it’s my dad’s, it’s not illegal.” He straightened up, hoping he was right.

“Laws are kinda hazy about that right now. Now if that was a real giraffe -”

“It’s not, so we’re not doing anything wrong!” Leo interrupted quickly.

Hank glared at him. “…If it was a real giraffe, it’s legal to own, but you can’t just charge for rides without a permit. You got one?”

“Uh. No. But it’s an android.”

“Yeah.” Hank’s frown deepened as he squinted up at it. “Markus know what you all’re doin’ here?”

The giraffe leaned back and lowered its head to lip gently at Hank’s hair. He batted it away.

“Quit that.”

Leo looked around for help. North was still smirking. Simon shrugged.

“Markus is the giraffe!” he blurted out.

“C’mon, don’t feed me shit like that.”

“He is!”

“You think this is funny!?” Hank’s face had gone from resigned to angry. Leo took a step back.

“Hey man, that’s how it is, I stuck his chip into the giraffe, we got him out the window, here he is.”

Hank rubbed a hand over his face. He stared at Leo. He looked around at the crowd.

Nobody was laughing. The giraffe pawed the ground gently.

“Fuck, the one day I don’t got Connor around…”

“It’s true,” Simon finally spoke up. “It’s Markus.”

“There was an emergency, and Leo just did the first thing he could think of,” Josh added. “Chloe and Mr. Kamski are working on a new RK200 body.”

“Just Elijah at the moment.”

Everyone jumped and looked up. Chloe was draped over the giraffe’s back. She smiled sweetly.

“I’m taking a break.”

“Fuck,” Hank sighed. “Okay, just hold on.” He walked away and turned to get a better look at the giraffe. He felt like an idiot. “…Markus?”

The giraffe lowered its head to look at him, blowing warm breath over him.

“I don’t get paid enough for this shit.” He raised his voice. “Okay, everybody gets their money back, pretty sure you can’t charge money for android giraffe rides without a license either.” He turned and began to walk away. “I don’t care what weird shit you do, just leave me out of it.”

“Does that mean you don’t want a ride?” North called after him. “It’s free now!”

“Not a chance!”

While the others tried to make sure someone stayed with Markus while he was a giraffe, he insisted that he was fine. He’d gotten by just fine as a deviant so far, and while he didn’t deny that he was having more and more giraffe-like instincts, he was a peaceful herbivore with no desire to even break into a trot. Still, someone else often came to hang out (to keep an eye on him, he accepted) while he slowly walked around Carl’s large yard browsing the newsfeed and the Jericho network. The leaves were beginning to fill out and cover the trees, and he stretched up to the highest branches of an old oak tree, his tongue stretching even farther to pluck a cluster of tender new leaves.

The window opened and Markus spooked, jumping to the side and snorting, ears swiveling around, nostrils flaring.

“Should you be eating, Markus?” Carl called from the house. “Didn’t mean to startle you, but… will that hurt you?”

Markus shook his whole body, then shook his head. The giraffe had been made to mimic normal giraffe behavior, and that definitely included eating. The processing of organic material was different, of course, and he would deposit very clean leaf-cubes in a pile later.

“All right. Be careful, though.” Carl closed the window. He was painting a giraffe, but had told Markus to just go about his business normally, and not to look too much. So Markus ambled over to the wall and watched some birds pecking at the ground. There were a few android pigeons in the flock, and he reached out tentatively to establish a neural link. Their minds were simple, but they were deviant. They also shared an impressive network that covered a few hundred square miles. It included a few other birds as well, and…

_M-Markus?_

Markus spooked again and shook his neck. He shouldn’t be so easily startled. _Who are you?_

_It’s, uh… Rupert Travis. WB200. Some of my pigeons told me there was a big android looking at them._

_That’s me, I’m afraid. We’re working on a way to fix it. …Are you doing all right? Adjusting well?_

_Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I heard something about you being a giraffe now, but I thought…_

_It’s temporary._

_Oh. Really? Well. Um. Good luck, I guess._

_Thank you._

The flock of pigeons and starlings took to the air with a loud flutter and Markus jerked back, then shook his head. Something had gotten sucked in his nose, he had to get it out…

“Are you - god, are you picking your nose with your own fucking tongue!?”

Markus’s feet clattered and he galloped a few steps away, tongue lolling out, forgotten.

“Seriously, man?” Leo looked disgusted. “You’re gross!”

Markus snorted and shook himself, then trotted away. He definitely didn’t need to be watched constantly…

**Author's Note:**

> Find me any time at [Anomalous Appliances.](http://anomalous-appliances.tumblr.com/) Prompts welcome!


End file.
